James Gilchrist Lawson (1874–1946) was an American Baptist evangelist, prohibitionist, editor, author and compiler. He was born in Cleveland, Tennessee on September 10, 1874 to James J. and Margaret (Logan) Lawson. He visited the British Isles in 1900 and spent the next eight years there, five of those years as special correspondent for religious papers of London. He married Camilla Martens on November 14, 1914, in Illinois. From 1909-1922 he was manager of Glad Tidings Publishing Company in Chicago, Illinois; editor at Church Publishing House, publisher of church magazines, from 1925-1932; manager of Family Altar League for seven years and an editor for Family Altar Magazine. Most notably, he wrote and compiled biographical sketches for ''Deeper Experiences of Famous Christians'' (1911), which is a landmark text in Pentecostal and Charismatic history. This book draws broadly from Christian history and the Wesleyan

holiness movement The Holiness movement is a Christian movement that emerged chiefly within 19th-century Methodism, and to a lesser extent other traditions such as Quakerism, Anabaptism, and Restorationism. The movement is historically distinguished by its emph ...

to include many post-conversion experiences with the Holy Spirit, which Lawson believed to be the

baptism of the Holy Spirit In Christian theology, baptism with the Holy Spirit, also called baptism in the Holy Spirit or baptism in the Holy Ghost, has been interpreted by different Christian denominations and traditions in a variety of ways due to differences in the doc ...

. In this way, it connects the modern

Pentecostal movement Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a Protestant Charismatic Christian movement

, which began in 1900, to the much larger stream of Christian theology and history. Biographical sketches include

Girolamo Savonarola Girolamo Savonarola, OP (, , ; 21 September 1452 – 23 May 1498) or Jerome Savonarola was an Italian Dominican friar from Ferrara and preacher active in Renaissance Florence. He was known for his prophecies of civic glory, the destruction of ...

, Fenelon,

Madame Guyon Jeanne-Marie Bouvier de la Motte-Guyon (Commonly known as Madame Guyon, ; 13 April 1648 – 9 June 1717) was a French mystic accused of advocating Quietism, which was considered heretical by the Roman Catholic Church. Madame Guyon was imprisone ...

John Wesley John Wesley (; 2 March 1791) was an English people, English cleric, Christian theology, theologian, and Evangelism, evangelist who was a leader of a Christian revival, revival movement within the Church of England known as Methodism. The soci ...

Charles Finney Charles Grandison Finney (August 29, 1792 – August 16, 1875) was an American Presbyterian minister and leader in the Second Great Awakening in the United States. He has been called the "Father of Old Revivalism." Finney rejected much of tradi ...

William Booth William Booth (10 April 182920 August 1912) was an English Methodist preacher who, along with his wife, Catherine, founded the Salvation Army and became its first "General" (1878–1912). His 1890 book In Darkest England and The Way Out outli ...

, and many others. Author and professor

Dallas Willard Dallas Albert Willard (September 4, 1935 – May 8, 2013) was an American philosopher also known for his writings on Christian spiritual formation. Much of his work in philosophy was related to phenomenology, particularly the work of Edmund H ...

wrote that ''Deeper Experiences'' is ″the one book other than the Bible that has most influenced me.″ Lawson was editor of ''The Marked Reference Bible'', which was an expansion on ''The Christian Worker's New Testament'' which he had published in 1924. ''The Marked Reference Bible'' includes a chain-reference and a color-coding system. The four colors represent the primary topics of salvation (red), the Holy Spirit (green), temporal blessings (brown), and prophetic subjects (blue). This Bible comes highly recommended by Winkie Pratney as a reference for

biblical theology Because scholars have tended to use the term in different ways, Biblical theology has been notoriously difficult to define. Description Although most speak of biblical theology as a particular method or emphasis within biblical studies, some scho ...

. The Bible allows you to see not only where a topic or subtopic is mentioned, but how many times, as a guide to that topic's importance to the biblical text. Lawson was also a prolific compiler of quotes and stories. His compilations include ''Greatest Thoughts About the Bible'', ''Greatest Thoughts About Jesus Christ'', ''Greatest Thoughts About God'', ''The World’s Best Humorous Anecdotes'' (1923), ''The World’s Best Conundrums and Riddles of all Ages'' (1924), ''The World's Best Epigrams'' (1924), and ''The Best Loved Religious Poems''. In 1941, Lawson published a compilation of biographical sketches called ''Famous Missionaries''. James Lawson says of himself in the introduction to ''Greatest Thoughts About God'', ″For the greater part of his life the compiler of this volume has been collecting the greatest thoughts of the greatest thinkers on the greatest themes. During the years the compiler has engaged in evangelistic work in the United States and Great Britain, he was able to consult the best books in the best libraries of America and Britain and to glean the best thoughts from them. While engaged in journalistic work, for five years, for the leading religious papers, in London, England, he was brought in contact with most of the religious leaders of the world and garnered the best thoughts from them. Through his connection with the religious publishing business during the last ten years, he has been able to collect the best thoughts from all the leading religious papers. Owing to the exceptional privileges which have been given to him by the providence of God, the compiler of this volume is able to give to the world the very cream of religious thoughts concerning God.″ ''Greatest Thoughts About God''. Kindle edition. 20134

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lawson, James Gilchrist 1874 births 1946 deaths 20th-century British writers 20th-century Protestant theologians British editors Holiness movement Biblical studies